FROM THE BEACH TO THE CITY
Louis Vuitton welcomes the Street Diver to its iconic Tambour family
CONTINUING ITS HOROLOGICAL JOURNEY into the unexpected, one that began in 2002 with the launch of the House’s first watch, Louis Vuitton has reimagined the iconic drum-inspired design of the Tambour in the form of the new Tambour Street Diver. Robust and edgy with a decidedly sporty outlook, the Tambour Street Diver brings together all the requirements of a traditional dive watch while retaining the colourful, creative and unconventional style elements that have always been central to the House.
Encapsulating the energy and richness of city life, the Tambour Street Diver is vibrant, bright and offers something for everyone in a chic, ultra-modern package. Challenging the codes of more utilitarian timepieces, it was born as a watch with an urban outlook rather than as a traditional diving instrument, yet its underwater credentials have not been compromised.
By looking beyond its surface, the sportier aspects of the Tambour Street Diver are revealed. From the screw-down crowns and 100m of water-resistance, to the generous coatings of Super-LumiNova on dial elements and inner rotating bezel, all bear witness to the functional practicality of this Swiss-made highly crafted watch.
The diving scale itself has been placed below the sapphire crystal on the turning flange ‒ the angled ring at the outer edge of the dial. The benefits of this internal rotating bezel are twofold: firstly, the top of the case is kept clean and minimal in the image of all of the watches in the Tambour family, secondly, the gentle inwards slope of the flange draws the eye to the centre of the dial, creating a feeling of depth and intensity.
The dive bezel is set via a colour-contrasting crown at 1.30 bearing a diver’s silhouette to distinguish it from the winding crown at 3 o’clock. Using the quirky yet inventive “Align the V” concept, the letter V on the diving scale is rotated to align with the colour-matched V at the tip of the minute hand, the two forming an X that marks the beginning of a dive, the start of a new adventure. The time spent underwater is then read on the internal bezel, the first 15 minutes highlighted by a vivid, colour-blocked scale.
And just as water itself takes on infinite shapes, the Tambour Street Diver too has proved to be highly adaptable with three automatic models in 44mm and one quartz version in 39.5mm, all four interpreting sports-chic in their own unique way. The clever quick-change strap system perfectly crafted by Louis Vuitton over the past three years, further enhancing the watch’s capacity to morph from day to evening, casual to formal, sporty to smart.
The new watch is accompanied by a campaign shot by renowned photographer Mario Sorrenti. Embodied by friends of the House ‒ actors Tahar Rahim, Sophie Turnerand Minho Lee ‒ the Tambour Street Diver invites one to Journey Beyond the Surface, to take a metaphorical plunge into an urban odyssey.